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The steep slopes along Portugal’s River Douro have been a prime site for viticulture for two millennia, but wines of the Douro didn’t achieve eminence until doughty English entrepreneurs took an interest in them a few centuries ago.
England and France were at war off and on from the 13th Century through the Napoleonic era. The long-running strife was a considerable inconvenience for English enophiles, who sometimes found it difficult to obtain French wines. England and Spain weren’t always on the best of terms either. Relations were better with Portugal, so English traders began importing Portuguese wines.
Sic Transit Gloria Vini
As demand for Portuguese wines grew, farmers planted vineyards farther and farther up the Douro. They sent their wines down the river each year to the town of Oporto, whence they were shipped to England.
The voyage was not easy. Wine often went bad in transit. Someone realized that fortifying the delicate liquid by adding distilled spirits (called aguardente) would prevent spoilage. Adding alcohol to the wine had another felicitous effect. If done early, it halted fermentation, marooning sugar in the beverage.
The high alcohol levels and rich, sweet flavors of the fortified wines appealed to English customers. Taking note of the word Oporto on wine barrels, vowel-averse Britons began calling the Douro wines “Port.” Sales soared.
Panoply of Ports
There are many sorts of Port today, generally distinguished by the length of time they have been aged – and by their color.
Nobody thought of aging Port at first. Shippers aspired to sell their wine quickly. Inevitably, a few barrels remained unsold. These languished in warehouses until thrifty merchants decided to drink up surplus inventory themselves. When they did, they noticed that interesting things had happened to their old wines.
Wine barrels are permeable. Over time, water escapes through the barrel wall. The concentrated wine remaining in the barrel becomes more viscous and develops more intense flavors. Meanwhile, as water departs, it is replaced by air. Oxygen in the air reacts with the wine. Dark red wines slowly turn a lighter, “tawny” hue. Barrel-aged Port generally is known as Tawny Port today.
Initially, all Port was sold in barrels. Bottles couldn’t be manufactured economically until the 18th Century. Once they became available, wine producers began bottling their product. Port bottled young retains its ruby color. It’s known as Ruby Port today.
Port typically is a blend of wines from several years, but when producers judge a harvest to have been particularly good, they may “declare” a vintage and sell wines from that single harvest as Vintage Port.
Port fanciers delight in numerous nuances and distinctions. The main things we amateur drinkers need to keep track of are the difference between Tawny and Ruby Ports and the significance of vintages.
Footnotes
Port is made from Portuguese varietals – principally Tinta Barroca, Tinta Cão, Tinta Roriz (Tempranillo), Touriga Francesa and Touriga Nacional – grapes that with the exception of Tinta Roriz are virtually unknown outside their native land. (Touriga Nacional has been planted here and there in the United States – including in Texas.) These are red grapes that produce intensely colored red wines. White varietals are used to make white Ports.
At harvest time, grapes for Port traditionally have been loaded into large stone vats called lagares and crushed by teams of shoeless men who walk back and forth on them. This “treading” method is ideal for making Port because a bare foot can squeeze out a grape’s juice without breaking the seed and releasing bitter flavors.
Recently, researchers working for Symington Family Estates have developed robotic treading machines with silicone-covered paddles that mimic the motion and pressure of human feet.
Port fermentation begins while the grapes are being crushed and proceeds very quickly, taking only 36-to-48 hours. Once the sugar content of the juice falls to the desired level, the wine is transferred to a tank where fermentation is stopped by the addition of aguardente. The wine is ready for aging.
Drink Britannia
British firms continue to be leading producers of Port. Chief among them is Symington Family Estates (www.symington.com), which has been in the Port business since 1882, when “Andrew James Symington married Beatrice Atkinson, whose ancestors had been in the trade since the 17th century.” Symington makes several familiar brands including Dow’s, Graham’s and Warre’s.
Rupert Symington, joint managing director, was in the United States recently to evangelize.
According to Mr. Symington, Americans are beginning to recognize the glories of Port. We’re still far behind France, which has been the leading market since the late 1960s, and the United Kingdom, which remains the leading consumer of premium Ports.
Mr. Symington notes that Port no longer is “just a winter warmer.” It can be enjoyed year round. He recommends serving it chilled to a temperature of 50-55º Fahrenheit. He eschews those teensy “Port” glasses in favor of wine glasses in which the glorious elixir’s bouquet can blossom.
Taste Tests
You can find a good selection of Ports at your favorite wine store. My wife and I spent several happy evenings recently tasting a few of them.
Graham’s “Six Grapes” Reserve Porto ($22) is a rich, glowing ruby color. Its fruity bouquet ushers in grapey flavors with subtle caramel notes and hints of figs and raspberries. A gleam of acidity balances the intense sweetness. “Six Grapes” is actually “declassified” vintage Ruby Port that spends about two years aging before it is bottled. It’s a smooth charmer with a rich, silky mouthfeel.
Wood-aged for ten years, Dow’s 10 Tawny Porto ($32) emits a mesmerizing bouquet. Its dense, dark flavors of spices, caramel, vanilla, coconut, white peach and candied orange-peel are illumined by subtle acidity in a yummy sort of enological chiaroscuro.
Cosseted in oak until 2009, Dow’s 2004 Late Bottled Vintage Porto ($24) is a deep ruby-maroon color. Its complex bouquet of dark fruit eventuates in lush flavors of plums and black cherries.
You are unlikely to finish a bottle of Port in a single evening. Don’t worry: you can re-cork the bottle and return it to the refrigerator, where it will keep for a month or more – assuming you can resist finishing it for so long.
Postscript
Port traditionally is paired with Stilton cheese or chocolate. We tasted our Ports with Stilton and a range of chocolates.
The optimum chocolate pairings were with Wine Lover’s and CocoaVinoso brand chocolates made by Bridge Brands Chocolate (bridgebrandschocolate.com) of San Francisco. Search them out for a fascinating Port pairing experience.